Special delivery

Barry Faulkner

When I learned last week that former Costa Mesa High baseball coach

Doug Deats had taken the same job at cross-town rival Estancia, there

were two questions I was eager to fungo in his direction.

1) Was it two boys, two girls, or one of each?

2) Why take that job?

The first question had to do with Deats’ unavailability to comment on the

second the day he was hired (Sept. 20), as he was attending to the

late-evening birth of twins Megan and Michael.

His second daughter and first son, as well as mother Jacqueline, are all

doing well, the proud papa assured me.

As to the less pressing issue, Deats addressed skepticism about his new

career path the same way he does his business on the diamond -- with

enthusiasm and candor.

“I like to coach, man,” he said. “That’s what I do. I’m hoping to help

those kids out with baseball and maybe some other stuff, too. And, after

all, that really should be the goals of any coach. Sometimes, I think we

all get a little shortsighted and get stuck on wins and losses.”

Guilty as charged, Coach.

Deats, however, was not averse to stating his belief that more wins and

fewer losses could be in store for the once-proud program.

Estancia, under former coaches Ken Millard and the late Paul Troxel, made

the playoffs eight times in 10 years through 1994. But the Eagles have

not had a winning season since ‘93, not made the playoffs since ’94 and

have won less than 14% of their games the last four springs (13-81-1).

“I’m pretty competitive,” said Deats, who took over a Costa Mesa program

in much worse condition in 1994 and led his alma mater to its first

back-to-back trips to the CIF playoffs in 34 years (1995-96), before resigning after the ’97 campaign.

“I’m going to work as hard as I can to make us as competitive as we can

be. Hopefully, the kids will embrace the things I’m trying to do and

maybe we can knock some people off.”

Q

Among Deats’ primary objectives will be to improve the condition of the

Eagles’ diamond, an issue which played heavily in the resignation of Joe

McKettrick one game into the ’98 season.

“I’m going to try to make it as good as it can be, but I don’t know, yet,

what that will mean,” said Deats, whose labor at Mesa left behind a

quality facility current coach Kirk Bauermeister, with community support,

continues to upgrade.

Q

Deats said another primary concern is fitting into his new program’s

color scheme.

“I don’t have any red clothes,” he said. “I told the kids if they catch

me in any (green) Costa Mesa T-shirts out there, they can rip them off

me. I’m wearing inside-out T-shirts, until I can get some red ones.”

Q

After filling Davidson Field beyond capacity for Friday night’s Battle of

the Bay XXXVIII, Corona del Mar High and Newport Harbor football

supporters deserve plenty of praise.

A nonleague Week 3 meeting between the cross-town rivals, as well as a

live television broadcast of the game, had little, if any, effect on the

community’s willingness to embrace the annual showcase showdown.

And, as usual, supreme sportsmanship and mutual respect were amply

displayed.

Q

Coach Dick Freeman’s Sea Kings lost more than bragging rights in the 35-3

setback to the Sailors.

Junior quarterback Matt Moore suffered a broken rib, a partially

collapsed lung and a bruised spleen when hit on a second-quarter keeper.

He did not return, was hospitalized until Monday, and is out

indefinitely, according to Freeman.

As if that weren’t enough bad news for CdM, sophomore backup quarterback

Joe Barber suffered a broken thumb on his right (passing) hand in the

game and is also out of commission for an extended period.

Evan Burden, Freeman’s first option off the bench against Harbor,

inherits the job and the Sea Kings must scour their roster for an

emergency backup.

“The No. 1 thing we couldn’t have happen this season was to lose Matt,”

Freeman said.

Q

Newport Harbor will likely be without senior receiver-safety Billy

Clayton until the Oct. 15 Sea View League opener against Irvine,

according to Coach Jeff Brinkley.

Clayton, who did not play against CdM, has a deep thigh bruise,

originally sustained in the Tars’ opener against Orange. He practiced the

following week and played against Marina, but swelling in his quadriceps

forced him to leave that game early and he’s been limping ever since.